Four years of painstaking work by New Zealander Brenan Hutchings to rebuild a 45-foot sloop ended in disaster when the yacht ran aground on the weekend, forcing him to swim ashore and call for help.
The 24-year-old Auckland spar designer was rescued by a Northland Emergency Rescue Trust helicopter about 6 a.m. on Saturday from Murimotu Island after his yacht, Glissade, smashed on to Surville Cliffs.
Hutchings set sail from Auckland in early November on a six-month solo circumnavigation of the North Island and was heading towards the Bay of Islands on Saturday when tragedy struck.
Click here for the full report by The Northern Advocate newspaper and click here for a report by the New Zealand Herald.
